


Mistletozier

by Brittle_Bone_Gabe



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gay Disaster Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Richie Tozier, IT Chapter Two Fix-It, M/M, Mistletoe, Movie: IT Chapter Two (2019), Oneshot, Post-IT Chapter Two (2019), Reddie, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21827170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brittle_Bone_Gabe/pseuds/Brittle_Bone_Gabe
Summary: For years Richie has been trying to get Eddie under the mistletoe, each time it was a failure.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 8
Kudos: 154





	Mistletozier

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday to me, to celebrate, here is a fic.  
> 

_1989_

_“Eddie, Eddie!” Richie called as he climbed down into the Loser’s clubhouse. The rest of the Losers were busy today, running around shopping, having to stay home alone and weren’t allowed to leave the house, so Eddie was the only one that Richie could bother. “Eddie!” He called again, standing at the bottom of the ladder, watching the smaller boy sit on the hammock. He had a shower cap over his head to make sure no spiders fell on him and his winter coat still on, reading the assigned homework they were given for holiday break. “You’re seriously reading that?” Richie asked, walking over to him.  
_

_“Unfortunately,” Eddie replied, his eyes skimming the page he was on, “I need to get a good grade or I’ll fail and then my mom will have a fucking stroke or something.”  
_

_“Hopefully...” Richie mumbled._

_Eddie’s head shot up, glaring at him. “Richie!”_

_“What?! You can’t tell me you like being bossed around all the time.”  
_

_“She’s my mom, dipshit.”  
_

_“Oh, excuse me, I thought she was your_ mommy.” _Richie yelped when Eddie threw his book at him, having barely enough time to cover his face with his arms before the book made contact with him. “Don’t be that way, Eddie Spaghetti,” he said as he tried to squeeze his way into the hammock, but Eddie was making it difficult. “I’m trying to call a truce here, Spaghetti!”_

_“Then stop calling me spaghetti!” Eddie said, trying to kick the taller boy out of the hammock. “I was here first!”  
_

_“Wait!” Richie grabbed Eddie’s ankles to stop him from kicking at him, “I have a question for you.”  
_

_Eddie narrowed his eyes, knowing that it had to be a joke. Richie just didn’t say ‘I have a question’ and actually asked a question. He knew it would be something like... ‘Oh, has your mom said anything about me?’ ‘Do you think you’ll hit 5′5″ before you turn thirty?’ Either way it pissed Eddie off and was ready to fight him._

_“What.” It wasn’t a question, Eddie really didn’t want to know what the question Richie had for him was. He watched as Richie fished through his front pocket, trying to find the thing he brought with him down in the club house. Eddie flinched when he pulled his hand back out of his pocket, assuming it was going to be a middle finger. “What the fuck is that?” He finally asked, tilting his head to the side at the small plant looking thing Richie was now holding; it was slightly flattened from being in his pocket, it had a small red bow attached to the top with some fake looking berries plastered on it._

_“What’s wrong, Eds? Never heard of a mistletoe?”  
_

_“A... what?”  
_

_Richie wasn’t sure if Eddie was being serious or actually never heard of a mistletoe before, but either way..._ he was in love with an idiot. _He dangled the small, plastic plant over his head, looking up at it as if he had no idea why it was there. Did he really want to go through with this? Did he want to tell Eddie what the mistletoe was and what the tradition was behind it? Richie had this whole thing planned out; he was going to surprise Eddie by hanging the small plant above the hammock before the smaller boy showed up, and when Richie ‘noticed’ it, he was going to point it out and kiss Eddie before he knew what was happening. Although, he wasn’t expecting that Eddie would make it here before him, the idiot left his bike propped up against the tree._

_“A mistletoe!” Richie tried again, holding it out so it was hovering over him and Eddie, who looked up at it. “You know what it is?”_

_“Uh... no? Wait, is that a flower?”  
_

_“What? No. It’s a-”_

_“A plant? Is that a plant?”  
_

_“Well, yeah, but-”  
_

_“I have a plant allergy, Richie!” Eddie shot up from the hammock, almost knocking Richie out of it as he did. “Ever heard of allergic rhinitis?!”  
_

_“Wh... no?”  
_

_“Hay fever? You’ve heard of that?”  
_

_“Isn’t that just seasonal- Eddie! It’s not real! It’s plastic, fake!”  
_

_“Yeah, it’s seasonal allergies, idiot. But did you know you can get that shit in the winter too?” Richie sat back in the hammock, dropping the mistletoe on his chest while watching Eddie rant about allergies. Great. This plan wasn’t working out well, he wasn’t trying to rile him up, but here they were. “Most of the time seasonal allergies is caused by a grass and pollen allergy, but in the winter it’s mostly due to dust mites. Do you know what dust mites are, Richie?” Richie could only nod, using his foot to rock the hammock. “They-”_

_“It’s not real, Eddie,” he tried again, interrupting Eddie’s ramblings, “th-the plant, not... whatever it is you’re talking about.”  
_

_“You say it’s not real, but how do I know you’re not lying to me?” Eddie asked, folding his arms across his chest with a small pout._

_“Why would I purposely trigger your allergies? It’s just a-”_

_Eddie scoffed, throwing his hands up in frustration before zipping up his winter coat. He grabbed his book, turning to face Richie who gave him a weird look, like he was stupid or something._

_“Whatever that is I don’t want it,” he finally said, walking over to the ladder. “I’m gonna go home and take some allergy pills before they get worse.”_

_Richie watched Eddie go up the wooden ladder, his mouth opened as he wanted to say something to try and stop him. It was too late. Eddie was already heading out to the snowy outside, leaving Richie with many things to say, none of which would ever get spoken. God, why were the cute ones so stupid? Richie sighed, fidgeting with the mistletoe that was now in his hands._

_Maybe someday._

* * *

_1993_

_This was the final Friday for the students at Derry High School before holiday break began. Everyone was excited for their two week vacation, ready for presents, laying in bed doing nothing all day, food, and spending time with family. Well, everyone was excited except for seventeen-year-old Richie Tozier; when he learned that Eddie was going to be gone for those two weeks starting tomorrow he was extremely upset. Something about seeing family. Either way, Richie was still upset, there was something he wanted to try to do before he left, hopefully this year it would work._

_“How do I look?” Richie asked his best friend Beverly as he put on the headband with a mistletoe hanging above him. “Stupid, right? I want it to look stupid.” Bev leaned over, planting a kiss on Richie’s cheek as for tradition. “Eugh!” Richie said dramatically, wiping his cheek with the back of his hand. “Cooties.”_

_Beverly rolled her eyes. “Yes, you look extremely stupid, Trashmouth.” Richie had a goofy smile on his face, giving two thumbs up. “I’m sure Eddie’ll get it this time.”_

_The memory made Richie shudder. He remembered he told Beverly all about how his first time trying this worked out, that Eddie had no idea what a mistletoe was and freaked out about hay fever and left him behind. Hopefully now that Eddie was older he would get it this time, or maybe he’d be awkward enough and ditch again. Which is what Richie swore up and down what happened last time, there was no way someone has never heard of a mistletoe, right? Right. Okay, Bev was right, he got it this time. It was going to be cute and give something for Eddie to remember while he was gone with family this Christmas._

_“And how do I look?” Richie pushed his semi-curly hair back, readjusting his glasses to make sure everything looked right.  
_

_Bev licked her hand, scrubbing the speck of dirt that was stuck on Richie’s cheek. “Golden. Go get ‘em.” She patted his back with a smile on her face as he started off towards Eddie’s locker. She watched him squeeze through the crowd of the hallway, shaking her head. Honestly she couldn’t believe that Richie and Eddie weren’t together yet._

_Richie was tall enough to be able to see over most of the crowd, his blank expression changed into a huge smile when he saw Eddie searching through his locker. Yes, okay, perfect. This would be his year. He would get Eddie to kiss him over this stupid tradition, he swore to god. Even if he had to bluntly spell it out for him. K-I-S-S M-E, Y-O-U I-D-I-O-T._

_Eddie had his backpack on the floor as he was moving the textbook from the morning periods to his locker, switching them out with the afternoon periods textbooks. He used to carry them all at once so he didn’t have that anxiety of rushing to go to his locker, but since he went through two backpacks in the year he had to stop doing that because his mom was getting mad about buying him new ones. Of course, she blamed Richie for roughhousing with him, causing the backpacks to break. No... it was just because Eddie didn’t want to make an extra stop at his locker._

_“Helllooo, Eddie!” Richie said long and dramatically, pulling the locker door open some more so he could stand in front of it, leaning it up against the other lockers with his shoulder.  
_

_“Hey, Richie,” Eddie said, not even looking at him as he was putting books from his backpack to his locker, “what’s up?”  
_

_“Ooooh, nootthiiin’” He reached up, poking at the mistletoe that was dangling down over him, the little bells jingling as he did, trying to get Eddie’s attention, but he wasn’t budging. Richie frowned. “Eddie. Eds. Eddie, my love.” Normally that last one caught his attention. “Bitch, pay attention to me!”  
_

_Finally Eddie looked up at him, finally noticing the mistletoe above them. “Oh,” he said, standing up, rolled his hoodie sleeves up so they were above his forearms. “Mistletoe. Whose that for, Richie?”_

_Richie discreetly bit his bottom lip, trying to get the hint across._ Notice, you idiot, notice, _Richie was thinking to himself. Maybe out of the blue Eddie would gain the power to read minds and kiss him._

_“I dunno,” Richie said, trying to sound smooth, “whoever’s under it I guess. That’s how mistletoe’s work, right?”  
_

_“Huh...” Eddie reached up, jingling the fake plant. “That’s actually really cute. Did you know if you were you to eat mistletoe it could technically kill you? It can poison you.”  
_

_Richie wanted to strangle the hell out of the shorter boy in front of him for being so oblivious. Why was he being like this? Did he not get it? Was he just nervous about this? Oh, shit, maybe Eddie wasn’t gay or bisexual or anything and Richie was making him uncomfortable._

_“Oh... yeah...” Richie was trying so hard to not sound disappointed as he took off the headband. “Yeah, I found it at the pharmacy.” He put it on Eddie’s head so it was hanging over his face now. “You know what a mistletoe is, right? Like, what the tradition is?”  
_

_Eddie’s face turned a light shade of pink that Richie could see clearly under the bright lights of the hallway. With shaky, anxious hands, he reached up and took the headband off from his head, holding it back out to Richie who sadly took it. Of course he knew the tradition was. Well, back then he didn’t, the first time Richie tried pulling this stunt Eddie had no clue what was going on until he went home to ask his mom what a mistletoe was. He would never forget the look on her face when he went on to explain that Richie had one and held it over them in the hammock that day, she was looked stunned and confused, acting different around Richie since. They both noticed, and Eddie would always apologize, but Richie couldn’t care less about that._

_“Yeah... Yeah, I...” Eddie trailed off, looking into Richie’s eyes, seeing the desperation and sadness there, “I think I know the tradition.” He moved his backpack from the floor, slinging it over his shoulders before nudging Richie out of the way so he could close his locker. He had opened his mouth to speak, but the warning bell indicating that it was almost time to start the first afternoon class interrupted him. “I gotta go, Richie,” he squeaked, making himself small as he moved past Richie, he couldn’t bear to see the sadness that now took over Richie’s face.  
_

_Richie let out a frustrated sigh, twisting the mistletoe headband in his hands until he could feel it crack under the pressure. Goddamn it. Fuck. This was the second time Eddie’s dodged the fucking mistletoe and Richie’s heart was, as cliche as it sounded, broken._

_As Eddie was maneuvering through the crowded hallway of rushing teens trying to make it to their class on time. Of course he fucking knew what the mistletoe meant. Whoever stood under it meant that they had to kiss. Something Eddie always wanted to fucking do. He’ll admit, he had no idea what it meant the first time Richie pulled that shit when they were fourteen-years-old, but once he found out he kicked himself for not knowing and taking advantage of that. And today? What the fuck was that? Admittedly, Eddie was caught off guard with Richie’s stupid headband, but he had the chance to kiss him again._

_‘Do you know the tradition?’_

_‘Of course I know the tradition, but I can’t kiss you if the mistletoe is on my head, we both have to be under it,’ Eddie wanted to say at that moment. He smacked his forehead in frustration, why didn’t he speak up?_

* * *

_2019_

Richie and Eddie have been dating for a total of three years. Ever since the whole being called back to Derry, Maine after all these years, all these memories flooded back and made Richie break down. He remembered all those nights where he would sneak out of his house in the middle of the night and go to Eddie’s house, climbing through his window and they would stay up all night just to talk about whatever. He remembered carving their initials in the Kissing Bridge, hoping that it would somehow magically bring them together. It wasn’t until it started snowing in Chicago this year when Richie remembered all those sad attempts at trying to use a mistletoe to get Eddie to kiss him for the first time. He cringed, at the same time he thought it was cute. 

_This would be the year,_ Richie thought to himself as he set the plastic bag of Christmas decorations down on the kitchen counter that Eddie had sent him out to buy. _I’m gonna get it to work this time,_ he thought as he pulled out the mistletoe from the bag, the one thing that wasn’t on Eddie’s list. He would get a kiss out of this mistletoe or die trying. 

Richie started running around the house, trying to decide the perfect place to place the mistletoe. Doorway? Cliche. Front door? Too cold as it was too snowy outside. Thankfully Eddie was out right now, but Richie just received a text from him saying that he was on his way home. Fuck. He didn’t have a lot of time left.

Richie looked up. Oh. Perfect. 

He stood up on the coffee table that was placed in the center of the living room, having to stand on his toes as he was reaching up to place the mistletoe in the perfect spot. He could just barely reach, but... fuck, he may need tape for it to stick. Did they have tape? Somewhere, right? Eddie’s been wrapping presents like a madman lately. 

Once he jumped down from the table he scrambled into the guest bedroom that Eddie was using to wrap presents. Moving things around until it was all on the floor desperately looking for tape. How could he not have tape? This was bullshit. 

Oh... that’s why Eddie went to the store. He said he ran out of tape and wrapping paper. 

Back out to the kitchen, Richie started going through the junk drawer that they could hardly open since they had so much junk in it. There had to be _something_ in here that would make this stupid piece of plastic stick for five minutes. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Richie mumbled in between the mistletoe that was placed in between his teeth as he was going through the drawer. “C’mon... this shouldn’t be so fucking hard. ...Aha!” He announced happily, even though he was the only one at home. When he turned around he saw their tan Pomeranian looking up at him, his tongue hanging out as he was wagging his tail. “What the fuck are you looking at, you little bitch? ” Richie asked the dog playfully before reaching down to give him a pet. “Such a good boy,” he knelt down to pet him some more. “Such a-” the dog snatched the mistletoe out of Richie’s mouth, running off with it. “Hey! No! Bad boy!” Richie yelled after the small dog. “Peanuts! No! Drop it!” 

If anyone was looking from the outside looking in saw this six-foot-something man chasing around this small Pomeranian it would be the perfect skit. Unfortunately, this was a pain in the ass for Richie, all he wanted to do was surprise Eddie and finally get that stupid holiday kiss he wanted since they were kids. Was that really so hard? 

“Peanuts! Down! Want a treat?” He was trying anything and everything he could to get the dog to stop and drop the mistletoe. Thank god it was fake, Richie recalled that Eddie said something about if you ate a real mistletoe you’d get poisoned and die. If anything happened to this dog Eddie would kill everyone. “Treat, treat, treat!” Richie said in a high pitched voice, trying to get his attention as he held up the dog treat. 

Peanuts stopped, looking up at the treat in Richie’s hand, still holding onto the plastic plant as he was wagging his tail. 

“Yeaaah, this has your attention, huh?” Richie said, waving his arm slowly side to side, watching as Peanut followed his every move. “Sit!” Peanuts did what he was told, plopping down as soon as the word left Richie’s mouth. “Now... drop it!” Peanuts tilted his head to the side, not quite understanding what he was supposed to do. ‘Drooop iiit...” He growled out of frustration, just wanting the damn treat. Richie held the treat out so it was directly in front of Peanuts’ nose. The small, fluffy dog dropped the mistletoe, snatching the treat from Richie’s hand as he went into their bedroom to eat it underneath his bed, as he did whenever he got a treat. 

Richie let out a thankful sigh, picking up the mistletoe that was now covered in dog slobber. Oh well. Whatever, he got what he wanted. He grabbed the hot glue gun from the counter, going back to stand on the coffee table. 

As soon as he was finishing up gluing the mistletoe to the smoke detector Richie could hear Eddie’s car door slam shut in the driveway. Oh, fuck. He cut this too close. Richie started blowing on the glue, hoping it’ll make it stick in place just for five minutes. Once it seemed stabled, he hopped down, pushing the coffee table back into place just as Eddie walked through the door. 

Sweat was covering Richie’s forehead as he stood directly underneath the mistletoe that was up too high for Eddie to even notice, refusing to move from his spot in front of the couch. Eddie raised an eyebrow, knowing instantly that something was up with his boyfriend. 

“What’cha doin’?” Eddie asked instantly, dropping the bags down at his feet. 

“N..nothing,” Richie responded with a goofy smile on his face. “What’re yooou doin’, hot stuff? How was the store? See any babes?”

Judging by how Richie was acting, Eddie knew that he was up to something. A prank? A date? He could never tell with Richie, he was always mixing it up. 

“What did you do?” Was the only thing that came to Eddie’s mind to ask. “Where’s Peanuts?” 

“Ah...” Richie started to explain, but had to stop to catch his breath, “the little devil is contained with a treat and nothing else. Nothing... that could poison him. I assure you, my sweet, sweet, Spaghetti, I did nothing wrong.” 

Eddie’s eyes went wide. “What?!” 

“He’s fine! He has a treat!”

“Don’t... call me spaghetti!” 

“Sorry, Eddsie.”

“Oh, that’s new...” Eddie folded his arms over his chest. “What are you hiding?” 

“Why don’tcha come here and I’ll tell you.” 

Eddie noticed that Richie hasn’t moved a muscle since he entered the doorway, out of character for him for sure since any time he entered the house Richie was there to hug him and kiss him. 

“No.”

“What? Eddie, come here!” 

“No, not until you tell me what you did.”

“Just!” Richie stopped, whining in frustration. “Come here! I’ll tell you! Please! Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, plea-”

“Shut up! Okay!” Eddie kicked off his snow covered shoes onto the rug, shrugging off his winter coat before making his way over to Richie cautiously just in case this was a prank of some kind. “You talk so fucking much, you idiot.” He stopped about a foot away from Richie, who looked to still be in distress. “What? I’m here.”

“Clooooser!” 

“I am not getting any closer until you tell me what you’re up to.” 

“I’ll tell you!” Richie held out his arms to him, wiggling his fingers. “Come here!” He couldn’t help but giggle, causing Eddie to raise an eyebrow before taking a step back. “Uh, wrong way, my sweet Eds. C’mere.”

“You did something.”

“I _did_ do something,” the smile somehow grew on Richie’s face if that was even possible. “I won’t- No, I _can’t_ tell you until you come stand.. right...” he pointed to the open area directly in front of him, “here. I know you’re curious. Or... maybe afraid? Just know I am not hiding anything from you this time.”

“Like how you hid the fact you killed my favorite plant while I was away for a week?” 

“Mhm!” Richie hummed happily, nodding. “Better than that!” 

Eddie scoffed, rolling his eyes as he stood where Richie had directed him to. He had to look up at the taller man at this point to look into his eyes. When he did, he noticed the mistletoe that was hanging from the smoke detector. 

“Are you fucking serious?” Eddie said, looking back down to look at Richie. 

“Third times the charm, right?” Richie asked with a single arm shrug. 

“But the smoke detector? Seriously? Do you know how dangerous that is, Richie? Say there was a fire, the smoke may not make it up there properly because of the-”

Eddie was cut off when Richie bent down, pressing his lips against Eddie’s cold ones from being out in that Chicago winter. He had both hands on Eddie’s hips, bringing him closer until their bodies were basically pressed against each other, sharing body heat. Eddie wrapped his arms around Richie’s neck to bring him down closer, deepening the kiss as best as he could from where he was standing. 

“I want that off of the smoke detector,” Eddie mumbled against Richie’s lips. 

“Mmm... may have trouble with that,” he responded once he pulled away, “I super glued it. Mistletoe tradition all year ‘round, baby!” He pumped his fist in the air. 

Eddie reached down, grabbing the empty wrapping paper tube that Peanuts was trying to drag around earlier, bonking it against Richie’s face, his glasses almost falling off. 

“Beep beep, Richie.” 


End file.
